Thursday, June 23, 2005

"Christian" fundamentalists in the US Air Force

An April report by the watchdog group Americans United for Separation of Church and State said academy instructors proselytized in classrooms and senior cadets harassed non-Christian junior cadets. Other issues included football coach Fisher DeBerry hanging a locker room banner saying, "I am a member of Team Jesus Christ."
The religious bias investigation followed a decade of sexual assaults and harassment against female cadets at the academy that a Pentagon report last December blamed on leadership failures by top Air Force officials.
Brady's report found a "perception of religious intolerance" at the academy, and called for new guidelines for commanders and supervisors on appropriate religious expression as well as training in religious diversity and respect.
Without offering details, the report said cadets had made "religious slurs" and "disparaging remarks," and some members of the faculty and staff had expressed strong religious beliefs "in ways that others found offensive."